


Tumble

by the_sinnamon_roll_writes



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: idk about the title i just pulled it out of my ass, it gets sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 13:30:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15631638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_sinnamon_roll_writes/pseuds/the_sinnamon_roll_writes
Summary: A simple picnic gone wrong.





	Tumble

They had just been enjoying a brisk, sunny day outside when it happened. Mathias was goofing around when he got too close to the edge of the cliff. As he was tipping over, Tino made a lunge for him, managing to grab ahold of his hand only to be jerked down with him. Berwald and Lukas had no choice but to watch, horrified, as the two fell nearly 100 feet to the ground below. The run to the bottom of the trail they had hiked was awful, seeming to last a lifetime before Lukas made it to where the two were laying. Skidding to a stop on his knees, he yanked Mathias from where he fell on top of Tino and rolled Tino onto his back, pawing at their faces frantically for a reaction.

Berwald came jogging behind him, holding a phone to his ear, explaining where they were and what had happened. When he reached the three he paled noticeably, taking in all the limbs that seemed to be twisted impossibly out of shape and the blood that was now making its way onto Lukas’ hands and knees. His voice cut off as he temporarily lost track of all rational thought, leaving the operator calling into the phone to him. In all his life, Berwald couldn’t think of a single instance where he had been as scared as he was then. Mathias and Tino were the ones that got him to go out and have fun, that made his life more than just work and awkward meetings. Without them-

 _“Berwald! Is there an ambulance coming? Damnit, Berwald-!”_ Lukas’s shrieks sounded far away, but it was enough to jar him out of his trance.

“Shit,” he shook his head, tuning back to the phone. “Right, an ambulance is coming? When will it be here, what should we do? I think- hold on- Lukas, are they still b-breathing?” He let loose a small sigh of relief when the other man gave a terse nod. “Yeah, they’re still breathing. How long will it take? Should we- alright. Okay. You’re gonna stay on the line? Fine. Lukas. We need to get them to the road, the ambulance can’t get here.”

Nodding, Lukas slowly slid his trembling arms under Tino and stood up, cradling him to his chest, miraculously not dropping him. “You’ve got Mathias? God, Tino’s hardly breathing…”

Trying to ignore him, Berwald bent down and hefted Mathias up in a similar fashion and wasted no time in turning to walk as quickly as he could through the woods without jostling the Dane too much. Lukas followed closely behind, anxiously keeping an eye on Tino’s chest. When they finally reached the road, Berwald let out a growl of frustration when there was still no ambulance to be seen. “Where the hell are they?”

“I don’t know- shit, Berwald, Matt’s losing a lot of blood.”

Looking down and the man in his arms, he was alarmed to see that there was indeed a great deal of blood dripping off his back onto the ground. Carefully, he knelt down and laid Mathias down on his stomach to reveal a deep gash on his side just below the rib. Without thinking, Berwald yanked his shirt off over his head and folded it in half twice before pressing it firmly to the wound. Lukas carefully lowered himself to the ground next to him, still clutching Tino almost painfully close, as if he could keep him alive just by holding on.

The next few minutes passed by in agonizing slowness, both Berwald and Lukas struggling to keep their composure. Berwald had focused his energy into rubbing small, slow circles on Mathias’ shoulder while Lukas pressed his face into Tino’s hair, rocking back and forth unconsciously. They heard the ambulance before they saw it, and Lukas jumped up, ready to flag it down, but flinching when Tino’s head flopped around at the motion. Two EMTs were out of the vehicle and rushing towards them as soon as it came to a screeching halt. One of them pried Tino from Lukas’ grip as the other enlisted Berwald’s help in lifting Mathias and loading him into the back of the ambulance. Once both men were situated, the EMTs asserted that Berwald and Lukas could follow them to the hospital.

Berwald drove. The silence that hung between them was was thick, almost palpable, leaving their ears ringing. Their eyes were fixed on the road ahead of them, Berwald tailing the ambulance so closely he almost slammed into it as they neared the city and had to slow down. Watching them, it would have been easy to assume they were ignoring each other entirely if it weren’t for their hands,white-knuckled and gripped tightly together in between them.

The car wasn’t even parked before Lukas jumped out and rushed through the doors of the emergency room. He was arguing with the receptionist when Berwald rushed in.

“No, where are they? The EMTs said we could see them here, so please, where are they?”

“Sir, I understand your concern, and I’m sorry, but they are in very good hands. If you were to go to their rooms right now you’ll only interfere with the doctor’s work. Please, take a seat, the doctors will come get you as soon as their conditions have stabilized.”

“But-”

“Lukas,” Berwald stepped in, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Come on. Calm down, you know she’s right. You should call Emil.” The receptionist nodded in appreciation as Berwald guided Lukas to a small sitting area where they sat down on a couch beside each other. Lukas did call Emil, explaining the situation and where they were. When he hung up, he glanced over at Berwald.

“He says he should be able to get here by tomorrow morning.”

Berwald simply nodded in response, and the pair lapsed into uneasy silence.

The minutes ticked by into hours, Berwald’s arm around Lukas’ shoulder, Lukas’ head tucked into Berwald’s neck, waiting anxiously, unable to comfort each other. Eventually as the evening turned into night, they fell asleep waiting for some word from the doctors. They were woken around 2:30 A.M. by a weary female doctor. Berwald was the first awake, and he had to stop himself from jumping up and spilling Lukas onto the ground. Instead, he pushed Lukas upright, shaking him a little to wake him up. His eyes opened and he looked around, ready to berate whoever it was that woke him until he remembered where they were. Fixing his stare on her, he stood up simultaneously with Berwald.

“Well?”

“Come with me,” she said, leading them back into the hospital. “They’re in our ICU recovery area. Neither of them have come to yet, but that’s not totally indicative of anything. They both have suffered some severe blunt force trauma. Mathias has a pretty serious laceration on his back; he probably landed on a sharp rock or something similar. He’s got several broken bones, ribs, wrist, fibula, just to name a few. Luckily he doesn’t seem to have much for head injuries, a concussion and a fractured skull. He’ll be in a lot of pain when he wakes up, and we can’t know the true extent of the damage to the brain until then.”

When she stopped talking, she ushered them into a room, revealing Mathias and Tino laying in separate beds. Berwald immediately walked straight to the closest bed where Mathias was laying and picked up his cool hand, staring at him with wide eyes. Both were pale as the sheets they were laying on, and attached to all sorts of different mechanisms. Lukas felt sick when he looked at the equipment and realized with a lurch that it could be the only thing keeping the two alive.

“Doctor, what about-”

“Please, call me Elizabet.”

“Elizabet then. What about Tino?” To avoid having to look at their bodies, Lukas tried to keep concentrated on her.

“Tino is a bit worse off. Mathias landed on Tino; that softened his fall just a bit. Tino didn’t have that. He’s got some damage to a few of his organs that we’ll have to keep a close eye on. Several broken bones all throughout his body, a punctured lung, and some interior bleeding in his abdomen. He’s got a fractured skull as well, but even though his brain activity is a little low right now, I feel fairly confident that he’ll be just fine. Both of them actually, I see no reason why they won’t both be able to leave the hospital in a couple of weeks.”

Rubbing his forehead in relief, Lukas nodded at Elizabet in appreciation. “Is there anyway we could get a chair or two?”

“Of course. I’ll got let someone to know you need them.” With that, she strode out of the room, leaving Berwald crouched on his knees, staring at the wall, and Lukas standing in front of the two beds and watching them apprehensively.

“Are you okay Lukas?” Berwald’s sudden question made him jump.

“Yeah… I’m just not a huge fan of hospitals.” He looked a bit abashed at the admission, not meeting Berwald’s eyes.

“You could go home if you’d like. I’ll stay here and keep you updated.”

“No! I want to be here in case they- in case they wake up.”

Berwald studied him for a moment before nodding. Their attention was diverted suddenly to a young blonde woman walking in with two chairs. Observing the scene carefully, she offered a small, comforting smile before moving to place both chairs in between the two beds.

Smile still on her face, she looked between the two of them, thinking quickly for something to say. “They’ll get better. We’ve got a very talented crew, they know what they’re doing.”

Lukas nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment, and walked over to take a seat. Looking at Tino, he slowly reached out to stroke a bit of his soft, blond hair. After a moment, Berwald rose to join him, carefully setting Mathias’ hand down on the bed as though it were made of glass. Once he was seated, he took up Mathias’ other hand, holding it for a moment before leaning forward to rest his head on the bed, against Mathias’ side. Lukas couldn’t see his face, but he could make out the small tremors shaking his back.

Just as Lukas placed a hand on his shoulder, Emil burst into the room, closely followed by two orderlies.

“Sir please, we need you to at least check in at the front desk-”

“I don’t give a shit what you need me to do, I need to see them!” Emil’s eyes landed on the two figures laying on the beds and he froze, swaying where he stood. He stumbled over to Mathias’ bed and lowered himself to sit down on the edge, staring at his face.

Lukas stood up to deal with the orderlies.

“It’s alright, I called him here. Please, just let him stay.”

Reluctantly, they nodded. As they turned to leave, one of them paused to look back. “Would you like me to get another chair?”

Emil nodded wordlessly. After they left, he looked up at Lukas. “How… How are they?”

“They’re saying they should be fine.”

He let out a sigh of relief, shoulders sagging noticeably. “What happened? How did this happen?”

It was Berwald who answered. When he sat up straight, his eyes were clear, albeit slightly red. “Mathias. He was messing around and he fell. Tino tried to catch him, but he just got pulled down too.”

Lukas shot him a reproachful look. “Berwald, stop that.”

Sighing, Berwald rubbed his forehead and nodded. Standing up, he walked toward the door. “I’m gonna go get some food. Do you guys want anything?”

“Yeah. I’ll just have some cereal or something.”

“Alright. Lukas?”

He only shook his head in response.

“I’m getting you food whether you want it or not. You might as well tell me what sounds good.”

After a brief pause during which Lukas scowled at Berwald, he finally relented. “Fine. If you can find one, I’d eat a bagel.”

Berwald turned around and left, closing the door behind him.

Quiet followed, the soft hum of machines and the low, even breath of four men the only sounds permeating the room.

“Emil?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you okay?”

Emil took a deep breath before nodding jerkily. “I just- I don’t like being in hospitals. For other people, I mean. It’s just- I can’t-” he choked off, closing his eyes and breathing slowly.

Standing up to go sit beside him, Lukas placed an awkward arm around his shoulders and gently patted his arm. “It’s alright, I get it. Me too, actually. I hate all of this.”

For once Emil welcomed the contact, actually resting his head on Lukas’ shoulder. That was how Berwald found them when he returned to the room, carrying food and three water bottles. Not wanting to break the two apart, he moved quickly to get them their food before either could stand up.

“Here.”

“Thanks Ber.”

They all ate slowly, not sure of what to say. Lukas finished first setting about cleaning up the crumbs and wrappers to keep himself busied. Emil was next to finish, slurping the left over milk up from his little container. Berwald was the last one eating, still taking a few last bites of his apple. He had just gotten up to throw away the core when a machine started to beep and groan loudly, piercing through the room and into the hall. Within seconds, three nurses were bursting into the room, rushing to figure out what was going wrong.

Lukas, Emil and Berwald all flattened themselves against a wall, eyes wide, watching the chaos unfold. It seemed to take only seconds for the nurses to situate Tino onto a gurney and race out without acknowledging the three.

They could only stand there, stunned and staring at the door through which the Finn had just disappeared. No words were spoken, no movements made, for a solid minute until Berwald took a step away from the wall toward the door before swaying and having to steady himself on the wall once again.

“Jesus! Fuck!”

“Berwald!” Lukas’ voice was sharp, and when Berwald looked over at him, he saw that he was staring hard at Emil. Eyes trailing over to the younger man, he realized that Emil was starting to hyperventilate as tears filled his eyes.

Emil’s hands, which had been clutched against the wall, slowly made their way up his body, one wrapping tightly across his chest, the other pressing hard against his mouth. He was trying so hard to regulate his breathing, it was almost painful to watch.

“Emil?”

At the sound of his name, Emil collapsed to the floor, gasping, covering his face in an attempt to hide his sobs. Lukas and Berwald both rushed over to him, sinking down on either side of him and each wrapping as arm around him. Both men looked quite close to breaking down themselves, eyes scared and confused. It took a few minutes for Lukas to gather himself enough to stand up and walk out the room.

“I’m going to go find out what that was all about. It was probably just- just a malfunction or something. You two stay here with Matt, okay?”

When they both nodded, Lukas hurried out, letting the door swing shut behind him.

Berwald waited patiently beside Emil, trying to stop his own head from reeling. Slowly, Emil calmed himself down and Berwald was able to help him up into a chair, quickly taking a seat himself.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine Emil. Everyone’s said he’ll be okay. They’ve got good doctors here too, it’s a good hospital.” Berwald was trying to convince himself as much as Emil at this point.

Ignoring him, Emil just gazed across the room at the wall. He had so many thoughts and feelings running through his head, the most prominent being shame at not being able to keep it together. It felt to him as though the other two thought he was trying to draw the attention to himself, and that idea made him just want to disappear.

Nearly 45 minutes passed without word from Lukas. As it neared an hour, Berwald started fidgeting anxiously. After an hour and fifteen minutes, he stood up.

“Emil, I’m going to go find Lukas and see what’s going on. Do you want to come with?”

“No. I’ll stay.”

“Are you going to be alright?”

Frustration flashed across the younger man’s face. “Of course I’ll be alright, just go! One of you message me when you figure it out!”

Taken aback at the outburst, Berwald nodded and turned around to leave the room.

Sighing, Emil stood up and stretched out, glancing at the clock that was positioned on the wall. It was nearing two o'clock. Looking outside, he saw that it was absolutely dismal out, dark clouds covering the sky. Not wanting to sit back down, he started pacing back and forth in the room from one wall to the other. The repetition was soothing as he let his mind focus on simply putting one foot in front of the other, turning around, and repeating.

He didn’t even notice that 35 minutes had passed until his phone buzzed. As soon as he felt the vibration in his pocket, he whipped his phone out and paled at the message flashing across the screen.

_Tinos in icu. Luke and I are down here. He should be ok._

Heart dropping, he redoubled his speed, pacing even faster. Running his fingers wildly through his hair, he messaged back quickly.

_Whats wrong with him??_

He kept his phone in hand, checking the screen every few seconds. After Berwald failed to reply for five minutes, Emil sent him another message.

_Should I come down there? ___

__Still no answer._ _

___Ber?_ _ _

__Nothing. Frustrated, Emil strode over to the door. His hand had just reached the handle when he looked over at Mathias. As worried as he was about Tino, he couldn’t stand the thought of him waking up to find nobody there. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure he could handle being in the ICU anyways. Defeated, he walked to Mathias’ bed and sat down beside him, looking down at the unconscious man. Jerking out his phone, he shot off one more message to Berwald._ _

___Damn it berwald, you better fuckin reply soon._ _ _

__Once he sent that off, he slipped his phone back in pocket and gazed at Mathias’ face a moment before he laid down beside him, pressing his scowling face into Matt’s shoulder._ _

__He hadn’t counted on falling asleep like that. When he came to, it was nearly four o'clock. It took him a moment to recall where he was, but once he did he sat up straight, yanking his phone from his pocket, finding three unread texts._ _

___Sorry no update yet._ _ _

___Just got told that someone would talk to us soon_ _ _

___Emil, you should come down here._ _ _

__His stomach flipped at the last message, sent nearly forty five minutes ago. He couldn’t keep his mind from running through every horrible possibility. Leaping off the bed, he unintentionally jostled Mathias, nearly knocking him off the bed. He was halfway to the door when he heard a low groan from behind him._ _

__“Matt?”_ _

__“Unngg… Was goon aw?”_ _

__“What?”_ _

__“What’s goinnn aww?” His voice was thick and he seemed to be struggling to get the words out._ _

__Emil returned to his side, taking a seat in one of the chairs beside him. “You fell off a cliff.”_ _

__“Emil? Where’s erryone el?”_ _

__“Luke and Berwald are with- with Tino.” Emil’s voice caught when he remembered where he was supposed to be going._ _

__“Where?” Mathias was peering at Emil through hardly opened eyes._ _

__“They’re- they’re just-” He wasn’t sure he could bring himself to tell Mathias that Tino was in the intensive care unit, not when he didn’t even know why he was there. There was no way Mathias would take it laying down, and Emil knew he would feel guilty as hell. “They’re in another room.”_ _

__Mathias looked confused at Emil’s stuttering response. “Is he al'lite? Wha happened?”_ _

__“You- well I wasn’t there. I just know that you two fell. From high. Up, I mean.” Emil knew he must have looked guilty from the way Mathias was staring at him. “Everyone’s said you’ll both be just fine though!”_ _

__Slowly, Mathias focused on spitting each word out properly. “Emil. You’re a terrible liar. Where are they?”_ _

__Giving up, Emil nodded. “Tino’s in the ICU. I don’t know why, I was just about to go down and find out._ _

__“Take me with you.”_ _

__“Mathias, no. If you want, I’ll stay here and call one of them or something.”_ _

__“Emil please, take me to see Tino!” He wasn’t able to make any pleading movements, but Emil could see his eyes start to fill with tears._ _

__Still, as hard as it was to see Mathias cry, Emil stood firm. “If you try and move around now, you’re just going to hurt yourself more, you ass, and Tino would kill me if I let that happen. Now be quiet, I’m going to call Berwald.”_ _

__Without another word to Mathias, Emil turned around and dialed Berwald’s number. It rang for nearly a minute, and Emil was beginning to wonder if he would have to call in an orderly to pin Mathias down while he went to find the other two._ _

__“Hello?”_ _

__“Lukas? I thought I called Berwald’s phone?”_ _

__“You did.”_ _

__“Then why did- Never mind. Matt’s awake. How’s Tino?”_ _

__There was a pause where Emil could hear Lukas’ muffled voice talking to Berwald. They seemed to bicker about something before Lukas returned to the phone._ _

__“Alright, we’ll be right there.”_ _

__“Wait, Lukas, what-”_ _

__The line went dead before he could finish his sentence. With a frustrated sigh, he stomped back to flop back down into a chair beside Mathias._ _

__“Well? How’s he doin?”_ _

__Looking over at him, Emil just shook his head. “I don’t know, they didn’t say. He probably just- I don’t know, he’s got some procedure or something that they want to explain in person or- or something.”_ _

__It was evident that Mathias was less than satisfied with that response. Frowning at Emil for a moment, he asked, “are they coming here?”_ _

__When Emil nodded, Mathias fixed his eyes on the door, impatiently waiting for someone to show up. He tried jiggling his leg, a habit of his when he was anxious, but ended up letting out a high pitched squeak when it hurt. Emil lurched forward awkwardly, ready to do something to help, even if he didn’t know what._ _

__“You okay?”_ _

__Mathias simply nodded, grimacing in pain._ _

__Eventually, the door opened and Berwald and Lukas walked in. Lukas smiled when he saw Mathias looking at them, and Matt managed to smile in return._ _

__“How are you feeling?” Lukas was the first to speak._ _

__“Shitty. What happened? Emil says he wasn’t there.”_ _

__Lukas glanced at Berwald uneasily before opening his mouth again._ _

__“How much do you remember?”_ _

__Brows furrowed, Mathias had to think a moment before answering. “I remember we went on that hike. We’d just found some place to sit down and drink… And that’s it.”_ _

__Lukas nodded. “Then you remember most of it. After that… Well, you were messing around… And you fell. And Tino- well, he tried to catch you but you pulled him- I mean, he fell down with you too.”_ _

__Silence followed as Mathias took in what he’d just been told. “So- so I- fuck, is Tino okay?”_ _

__Lukas started to answer, but was cut off._ _

__“No! No, he’s not okay Mathias. Didn’t Emil tell you, he was in the ICU?”_ _

__Mathias didn’t answer, eyes huge under Berwald’s shouts._ _

__“Wait,” Emil cut in, voice tremulous, “what did you mean ‘was’, Berwald?”_ _

__Berwald’s eyes turned to meet Emil’s, face heart-wrenching. Without another word, the Swede turned on his heel and practically bolted out of the room._ _

__“L-Lukas?”_ _

__Lukas had his eyes closed tightly as he shook his head, chin quivering._ _

__“Please, Lukas, please, tell me he’s okay.” Mathias’ voice was desperate, cracking in panic. “Lukas. God damn it, _please.”__ _

__Head hanging down, he walked over to fall into a chair before he looked up to face the other two. When he looked up, there were tears streaming down his face. His cheeks were pale in contrast to his stark red eyes._ _

__“No,” he choked out, voice strained, “no. Tino- he- he died.” Lukas was hardly able to get the words out before he pitched forward, covering his mouth with his hands and gluing his eyes shut._ _

__Emil felt his head start to spin. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen Lukas or Mathias look as crushed and desolate as they did now._ _

__“How?”_ _

__“Brain hemorrhage.” Berwald made all three of them jump, having reentered the room without any of them noticing. His eyes were red as well, and his hair and clothes were in complete disarray. “Apparently he was bleeding the whole time, and no one noticed until- until it was too late.”_ _

__No one spoke. No one needed to. There was nothing any of them could say that would be of any comfort. So instead, they just cried. Berwald made his way over to sit up by Mathias’ head, placing a hand on his shoulder in a silent apology for his earlier outburst. Emil quietly inched closer to them, laying down in a similar position as early, his head on Berwald’s lap where he could have his hair stroked, and an arm gently rested across Mathias’ stomach. Finally Lukas joined them, sitting on Mathias’ other side up against the headboard, one hand reaching over to lay on Berwald’s arm, the other softly stroking Mathias’ other shoulder._ _

__They remained like that for hours, slowly relaxing into one another. Elizabet returned around six thirty._ _

__“How is everyone doing?” Her voice was sympathetic as she took in the somber group. “I’m so sorry about Tino. I know it’s hard.”_ _

__Lukas nodded wearily. “We’re okay. Well, we will be.”_ _

__She smiled wanly, nodding and walking over to Mathias’ I.V._ _

__“Mathias, how are you feeling? How would you rate your pain?”_ _

__“Umm. Pretty bad.”_ _

__“Alright, I’m gonna go ahead and give you some more morphine, okay?”_ _

__After he nodded, she adjusted his drip and waited a moment for it to kick in. Once he was clearly feeling the effects, she went on to double check his vitals._ _

__“Everything is looking fine. Like I said, he’s going to be in a lot of pain for a while. W’re also going to want to keep him here to monitor his brain activity and make sure it stays regular. If all goes well, I’d say we can probably discharge him in a week. He’s going to be bedridden for at least a month though, and he’s probably going to need to go to physical therapy for his leg.” She had turned to address the other three, watching their faces to make sure that at least one of them was listening. Once Berwald nodded, she continued. “I’m pulling a double shift today, so I’ll be here until early tomorrow morning. If you need anything, just find me, alright?”_ _

__“Berwald? Lukas? Emil?” Mathias’ voice was heavy and his eyes were drooping._ _

__The three all looked between each other, surprised. Finally Berwald answered._ _

__“Yeah Matt?”_ _

__“I’m sorry guys. I’m so sorry. I shouldn'ta fell- I killed him. ’S my fault.” His eyes slipped shut, and even though he was close to sleep, guilt was written all across his face._ _

__Elizabet watched the heartbreak spread across all of their faces at the same time. Quietly, she nodded towards them and slid out of the room, not wanting to intrude._ _

__They all tried to reassure him immediately, desperate to relieve him of any blame he felt, even though he was already fast asleep. Once he let out a soft snore, they fell silent. Emil sighed quietly, curling closer into Mathias’ side and closing his eyes. It had been a long day, and he was feeling entirely drained of energy. It took only a few minutes for him to fall asleep beside him._ _

__Lukas was staring down at the two when he felt Berwald’s eyes rest on him._ _

__“I guess this is our family now.” He hardly spoke above a whisper, not wanting to wake the sleeping pair. His jaw was set, but more tears had slipped from his eyes again._ _

__Berwald nodded slowly, swallowing past the lump in his throat. “I already miss him.”_ _

__“Me too.”_ _


End file.
